


But We Won

by SpiralSpace



Series: Rose's Banner [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Reinvention, Rose Quartz is Upper Crust AU, War and glory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 01:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7956463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiralSpace/pseuds/SpiralSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose was an inspiration to a lot of people during the war, but Pearl is the embodiment of "make yourself who you want to be". She must have been at least as potent a symbol of what the rebellion stood for, even if she maybe didn't realize it. A person wonders how many not-built-for-fighting gems died trying to be her.</p>
<p>The answer, of course, is all of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But We Won

**Author's Note:**

> Technically this is the final part of a series, dedicated to an AU where Rose Quartz was born on Homeworld and spent her formative years as a mover and shaker before the war. However, it's as good a place to start as any. Better arguably, since I wrote it way before the other parts.
> 
> Also, A.S. is short for for After Settlement, a dating system that measures time from the day the first Diamond set foot on Earth.

-

“Mom fought here?” Steven asked.

“That’s right! And I fought alongside her.” Pearl replied.

“Man, I wish I could have seen it.” Amethyst said.

Garnet frowned. “No you don’t. Countless gems were broken here. It was a maelstrom of destruction and death-”

“But we won!” Pearl interrupted.

**The temple, 1054 years after settlement of Earth, and two centuries before the resolution of the war:**

The watch had stopped. It would not start again.

Rose wouldn’t look Pearl in the eye when she warped back from the sortie. It would probably make the night easier for her, but Pearl found it only made her angrier. She had a lot of things to say, and had been darkly excited to find out what exactly those things those had been. But instead Rose walked silently out of the temple and into the night, carrying her shame like a wet shawl. Normally, this would be the part where she would cry the self-loathing out on Pearl’s shoulder, but…

She never found out where Rose went that night. For the thousands of years that Pearl had served Rose Quartz, it had been her job to know every bit of her business. You could pick any date and hour in that span, and Pearl could tell you what Rose had been doing, or at the very least what Rose had claimed she was doing. This was the first gap.

It was not this line of thought that distracted Pearl, that let rage fall away into the deep, semi-mending darkness of grief. Garnet, instead, managed the alchemy. They would agree that Pearl would have regretted anything she said that night, when they talked about the matter later. Much, much later.

**Earlier that evening:**

Pearl wasn’t sure she felt about this “tea” business. Rose said that it was a recent human invention. Pearl didn’t see how muddy leaf water qualified as an invention, or even a useful idea, to which Rose replied that it helped her concentrate. But she was aware Rose had only brought it up because she knew how agitated Pearl could get in strategy meetings; there was nothing that made her more uncomfortable than feeling useless. And so it came about that Pearl was waiting quietly outside of the Cloud Room, tea in hand, so as to avoid causing a disruption upon her return.

“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” she heard Rose say, inside.

“None of the versions of this raid I can see are zero-loss scenarios. No matter how we slice it, we’re not getting in without at least a few non-illusory gems in the decoy,” Garnet replied. “This may be our last chance to shut down the galaxy warp, ever. The alternative is to let it stand.”

“Which means we’d be fighting an entire other army after we’re done with White Diamond?”

Garnet hesitated.

“Yes,” she replied.

 

**The Tunguska Plateau, 820 years after settlement:**

Pearl was nervous as she examined the camp, her calm and controlled demeanor more than a little frayed. She stopped in front of one of the soldiers, a Cryolite. Cryolites were stout in form, burly but short gems; before the rebellion each would have been destined to work in the mines. “Have you been doing all your combat drills?” she interrogated. “Summon your weapon, I’ll time you.”

“Yes, sarge.” The Cryolite before her said ruefully.

Pearl drew a clockwork pocket watch out of her gem, and began to wind it. Uneasy as she was, she wound too far, and the crown broke off.

“Ugh, useless thing!” she barked, and made to toss it away.

Cryolite stopped her. “Wait, hand that here. I’ll show you something.”

Pearl did so, and Cryolite quickly spun around, holding the watch close to her chest. All Pearl could see was a little flash of light, and then Cryolite just as quickly handed it back to her.

“It’s running again?”

“And should run forever, actually.”

“How did…” Pearl stammered.

Cryolite winked. “Old miner’s secret. The overseers would always tamper with the clocks, try and keep us out on our shifts longer. So we would always tamper them back! But returning to the subject, is my form really terrible enough that I need more weapon drills?”

“No, nothing like that, I just worry is all.” Pearl looked down at her hands.

“Well I promise you, my dedication to the cause is untarnished. I will strive to be the best soldier for Rose Quartz that I can be!”

“Be careful. You’re the only miner we’ve got who’s survived this long.”

Cryolite laughed, that deep, hearty laugh that Pearl was so fond of. “I hardly think we’ll be needing an excavation shored up or a copper deposit dredged any time soon!”

Pearl glanced away, stared at the rack of polished weapons to her left. Saw too much of her own reflection there, and went back to her hands instead. “That’s not what I meant,” she whispered.

**The cloud room, a month earlier:**

“The entire unit was wiped out, save for a single Cryolite. She was able to retrieve the Goddess statue and sabotage the Sea Spire. The area is nominally under crystal gem control but that is likely to change as soon as they receive any reinforcements at all. This concludes my report on Facet 35.”

“Thank you Onyx, that will be all,” Rose said, terminating the communication link.

“How could this happen? Pearl asked, alarmed. “The Zagros Mine unit was experienced, and they’ve always fought courageously!”

Garnet replied, “Yes, but they were up against an entire division of Quartzes. Some things are inevitable.”

**The Andes foothills, 281 years A.S.:**

The battle had gone well. They usually did, now that Garnet was on their side. Pearl was taking a second to breathe when a gem approached her.

“Excuse me, Sergeant?”

“Oh, hello! Cryolite, from Zagros, correct?”

“Yes, so you remember! I just wanted to thank you again. For showing me that we can stand up for ourselves, and helping me to admit that I the one standing in my own way. Oh and also for not just punching me in the face.”

“I’m sure Rose Quartz will be very happy to hear that.”

“Wh- Rose? Rose! I’m saying that -you- were an inspiration. You’re so smart, and strong, and brave. All the gems I talked to back in combat training wanted to be you, including me! The way you made the Authority take you seriously, and didn’t let anyone tell you what you weren’t capable of. You make it look so easy everyone wonders why we didn’t just do this sooner.”

“It was following the teachings of Rose that gave me the strength to do that. She’s a brilliant leader, and she’s the reason we’ve made it this far.”

“Sure, but half of the people here are here because of you personally! You can at least see that, right?”

“Thank you, that’s very kind. But I’m still here because of Rose. It’s her you should thank.”

**Rose’s personal quarters, 150 A.S.:**

“I’m a terrible person, Pearl!” Rose cried.

“No you aren’t.” Pearl replied. This was normal, routine even. Being in charge was a lonely job, and Pearl was the only gem Rose would ever be comfortable admitting that to.

“But I am! Garnet’s wonderful, but just this morning I found myself wishing she was gone.”

“Why?”

“Because now I know if people are going to die because of the decisions I made. It used to be so simple. Just do your best to keep everyone safe, and if something happens remind yourself they signed up for it. But now! Every time somebody gets hurt it’s going to be on me. The rebellion could have just taken a vacation and a bunch of innocent gems would be so much better off.”

“You know we can’t do that. Gems got hurt before the rebellion. It’s not your fault.”

“But that’s not all.”

“Oh?”

“I get more hung up on whether or not my Jaspers are going to make it through a fight than a new convert, and not just because I know them better. I know… this is going to be a long war, and the chance that I’ll be able to protect that sculptor or mechanic in every battle… are slim. There’s only so much of me, and so many people need help. I find that, when I have to make the choice, I’ll save the person who will be able to save themselves next time. And I’m not even torn up over the ones that can’t. A lot of the gems we’ve been getting lately? I mourn them when they joined.”

“I don’t see any mechanics or sculptors in our ranks,” Pearl interrupted “but I do see a lot of brave warriors. Give them a couple battles, see how much they’ve-“

“They’re not you, Pearl! Rose yelled. “It doesn’t matter how much they want to help, most of them don’t make it through ‘a couple battles’!”

Pearl winced. “It sounds like you do still care.”

“Of course I care, they’re my soldiers,” she said bitterly. “No general would rather have fewer soldiers, even useless ones.” Rose sobbed. “You must hate me, don’t you?”

There was a tiny pause before Pearl was able to react to that.

“No, I know you’re a good person, and a great leader, and nothing you can say will change my mind about that.”

Rose was not comforted by that, but she did at least stop crying. “I know,” she said tiredly.

**The Zagros Mountains, 118 A.S.:**

What had started as a mission to sabotage a mining operation had gone quite a bit off the tracks. Discovery of rebels in the mineworks had disturbed deep, preexisting tensions between workers and local authorities, turning into a full-scale riot, and a dangerously conspicuous disturbance for Diamond forces to respond to.

“So we’re trapped down here!” the Cryolite shouted. The assembled crowd was growing restless. “They’ve blocked off the exits, and next they’re going to come down here and shatter us all.”

“No, they’re not,” Pearl replied calmly, even as she raised her voice to be heard over the din. “Rose Quartz has a plan, and I promise she’s going to get you out of here alive and intact.”

Cryolite was growing more irate. “Easy for you to say. You can fight. I bet the rebels are going to leave us behind to die and push their way out of here!”

“Ridiculous.” Rose said. “You are all people, unique people with your own unique talents. Each of you has something within them that could get them out of here. You too, can fight. You too, can struggle. And if you come with me, I promise you’ll never have to listen to anyone tell you what you aren’t capable of ever again.”

“That’s right! If you fight for it, you too can be free!” Pearl shouted.

They did, each of them. And nobody was shattered that day.

**The temple, 1254 A.S.:**

Pearl stood in her room. The horrors of war had created space for her own chamber in the formerly crowded structure, and the doldrums of peace had left time to decorate it pleasingly. All was silent, she was alone. The veteran held a bubble, filled with gem shards, gently in her hands.

“Still no sign of Yellow Diamond’s forces. I think we can safely say we sent them packing for good. The Kindergartens are shut down, the planet is safe. Rose is happy, I think. Or at least, satisfied.”

“I wish I knew, would you have been satisfied, if you’d known how things would turn out? You knew the risks, but still. How many of you meant it when you said you’d die for this?”

Pearl wiped her tears on her arm. She stared at the water, falling away until it was lost in the darkness of the caverns below.

“I know it’s not what we expected it to look like, but at least…

We won.”

**Author's Note:**

> So Pearl, does completely dedicating yourself to a person and a cause still seem like such a good idea when somebody -you- care is doing it?


End file.
